The Heart of a Circle
by beautiful-surreal
Summary: GO READ KRYSSA'S FLUTE'S In the Cirlce of Elemental Arms! This is the sequel of sorts she said I could write! Check it out! s/3581116/1/In the Circle of Elemental Arms Review like hell too! Thank you! A story set after hers in the same world.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own absolutely nothing other than the plot and my original characters.

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><p><em>The setting of our tale is a dark one. You've heard of The Ouran Elemental Institute before, so you have heard of how elemancy works as well. The Ouran Elemental Institute is where only the privileged elementals go, a place where money speaks and blood smiles. Elemancy in itself is a rare talent, but not everyone is lucky enough to afford such a place as Ouran.<em>

"Let! Me! GO!" _Oh, you see that young, brunette girl struggling with those two burly men over there? There's something you should know about her._

A flash of red light caused the two burly men to scream and drop the teenager like they had been burned, while a split second later, the earth moved under them, and swallowed the two suits up to their waists. The girl turned on her heel and ran like lighting as the men yelled and shook their fists after her, her hair covering her eyes.

_She's not normal._

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><p><strong>AN:** If you're confused, you have a very good reason to be. This isn't my story. Only the plot and the original characters that I created are mine. Everything else belongs to Kryssa's Flute and the person who came up with OHSHC in the first place.

Kryssa's Flute wrote _In the Circle of Elemental Arms_, and if you haven't read it already, **GO READ IT! **This story won't make any sense otherwise. Here's the link: fanfiction . net /s/3581116/1/In_the_Circle_of_Elemental_Arms

She doesn't have the time to write a sequel, so I asked her if I could, and she said yes. So here it is. GO READ HER STORY **FIRST!**

Tata, thanks everyone, and leave a review please. I **really **want to know what you lot think. ^_^


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything I didn't create.

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><p>Scrounging around in Tokyo's alleys was bad enough, but getting chased out of a mid-class café just because of the way I looked… I growled and kicked a soda can lying on the ground in front of me as hard as I could, not paying much attention to where it could go. <em>Shunk, clink, bang, clash, SPLASH!<em> I jumped in surprise, holding my arms out away from my sides as I dripped with grape soda, my eyes wide with barely-restrained anger, starting to shake because I was repressing the desire to punch something very hard.

_Riko…_ Katsuro sighed, and I slumped in defeat, putting my arm up on an un-collapsed wall to pillow my head with before sinking into it. I deserved it. Karma comes and bites us all in the ass sometimes, and it was my mistake for kicking that can in the first place. I should've checked to see if it was full or not before kicking it. It probably made me look better, what with the no-longer-fuzzy rags I wore. I looked like a homeless person. Now I just looked like a homeless person who'd been drenched with soda. It was thoroughly depressing, and I felt tears starting to prick at my eyes.

_It's not your fault, you know._ I gulped, and looked to my right, where a transparent, thin, blonde and blue-eyed boy was leaning against the wall with his arms and legs crossed, a little frown in his eyes. I sighed.

"Katsuro…" He looked at me reproachfully.

_It's amazing that we even got out of there._ He said, his lips not even moving as his words resounded in my mind. _It's not your fault that-_ his thoughts choked to a stop as his face contorted briefly in pain before he turned his back against the wall. I followed his eyes so that we were looking up at the few stars we could see from here, Katsuro doing his best to calm himself down as I tried in vain to keep the sadness out of my eyes, the brick wall a solid presence in front of me. _It's not your fault that they're still back there. _He whispered, and a single tear fell from my eye.

**BANG!** I nearly jumped out of my skin in surprise, as did Katsuro when we heard a gun go off at the end of the alley, followed by profuse swearing and more gunshots. My heart beat faster as my eyes widened, and ice-cold adrenaline flooded through my system, as I was barely aware of stepping rigidly out into the center of the alley, barely even hearing Katsuro calling my name in worried warning. All I could focus on were the people fighting, slinging guns around, gunfire going off everywhere, aiming just beyond the corner as a red-headed leader backed up into the end of the alley where I could see him, his mates following him as he glared and aimed a gun back down where he came from, his teeth gritted as his mates did the same. The sounds of gun fire faded from my ears as I realized one thing: 'They're Yakuza. And this is a gunfight.'

_**RIKO!**_ I snapped back to reality at Katsuro's panicked yell-scream, just in time to see a bullet at a split millisecond, the gun of the advancing, opposing yakuza that it came from, just before it slammed a burning pain into my body, just below my hip. I didn't register it for a second, as the red-head at the back of the alley, spun his head around so fast that his hair flew to look at me with wide eyes as my mouth seemed to fall open in slow motion as the force of the gunshot forced my leg back, my lungs expanding incredibly slowly as they took in air- then it all sped up again as I released the scream and fell to the ground.

"**GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"**

_**RIKO!**_

"FUCK!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

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><p>Ow. Ow. Ow! OW! My eyes flew open as I bit back a gurgling scream in my throat halfway through it, barely even able to see through the blinding pain just under my left hip bone, but there were two things I became aware of almost right away after I bit back the scream and blinked my eyes open a few times to the sight of a low, creamy-colored ceiling was that- yes, while I hurt like a complete bitch- I was in a completely different location, and I wasn't alone. By that, I mean that it wasn't just Katsuro here, who was hiding inside me at the moment. I felt delirious, and my eyes were blurred and blurring with pain and tears as I looked around, and I vaguely became aware of a man talking to me and cradling my head to his chest. I was in too much pain to focus on that right now, and I only barely managed to catch a glimpse of the blonde man holding my head in his arms, hovering, looking at me with a kind but worried face before I had to close my eyes again.<p>

"It's alright girl. It's ok. Come on. Everything will be ok soon. The young lord will be here soon. Everything will be ok. We hardly lost anyone this time. Just a few injuries. You were just…" It was all nonsense to me of course, and I sobbed through the pain as he rocked me a little, and I slipped out of consciousness again, it felt like, only to come right back to it. I was in a Yakuza lord's house. That was a little scary to say the least. My sense of time blurred with my passing out. The first thing I became aware of this time was a voice, rough and low; yet benevolent-sounding.

"How's she doing Tetsuya?"

"Young Lord! I-"

"Tetsuya."

"… She woke up once, but passed back out again right away. It seems like she only took enough time to look at me and find out where she was before passing out again." Tetsuya paused. "She seemed to be in a lot of pain. She's an elemental." He said, as I felt myself being laid down on the cloth-covered tatami, and I grimaced, baring my teeth with the pain, my eyes too heavy to open as I squeezed them tightly shut in the pain, which seemed to have faded a little since the first time I came to. Maybe Tetsuya got the bullet out or did something strange.

"Really? Well, it looks like she's awake now. What's your name?" I didn't know if he was talking to me while I felt his fingers wandering around my bullet wound, but I responded anyway.

"Ri-ko." I gritted out between my teeth, hissing out in pain as he squeezed my wound gently.

"Ri-ko, eh?" He teased lightly as the pain in my leg was numbed a little, as I felt a cooling elemancy creeping inside my bullet wound, and my mouth opened a little as my face went slack with the sudden lack of pain. "Well Ri-ko, I am Ri-tsu, and I'm an earth elemental. You got shot by one of the other yakuza syndicate members, so I'm going to heal you as an apology." I grinned slightly at his joke, and then my mouth rounded into an 'o' as he mentioned his element.

_Why didn't I think of that before? Katsuro?_ I thought, and I felt him stirring in my mind.

_I'm on it. You just rest while I help this guy, Ritsu, if that's what he called himself._

_He did._ I responded. _The other guy is called Tetsuya. Resting ain't gonna be a problem for me hunny._ I sighed as I relaxed, a little smile on my lips, making Ritsu grip my leg tightly in alarm.

"Riko!" His voice was tense, but then I felt his grip slacken as I felt Katsuro's earth tattoo light up on my left cheek, his elemancy warm as it appeared around my wound. "Ah…" Ritsu's cooling elemancy faded in his surprise, and I gritted my teeth as the pain returned.

_Katsuro!_ He didn't say anything, but I felt Katsuro's haste, as his elemancy dived into the bullet wound Ritsu's had left, soothing and healing, killing the pain right away. _Thank you…_ I whispered, and I felt Katsuro smile at me. I felt a strange little wiggling happening in the wound, and then I felt a sliding. It actually made a popping noise when the bullet popped out of the wound, to my surprise, since I hadn't even felt it before. I felt my wound knitting itself together speedily, and in a matter of seconds, it was done and Katsuro sighed, collapsing back into me as his tattoo disappeared. _Thank you Katsuro._ I sighed, and he whispered back to me:

_No problem baby…_ I couldn't help but smile. Katsuro usually was affectionate when he was tired. _Time for you to open your eyes._ I blinked and frowned, trying to remember how to do just that, and I heard Katsuro chuckle before he faded into sleep.

Blink. Ah, so that's how I get my eyes open. My surroundings were blurry, and as I blinked to clear my vision, I became aware of the fact that I was extremely tired, my body relaxing into the tatami without a mental cue. I blinked wearily, and I rocked my head to the left where Tetsuya and Ritsu where, only to practically have my nose touch the floor as the muscles in my neck went slack. I blinked again, and Tetsuya took his cue, sliding his fingers under my head and lifting it up so that I could see them more clearly. I smiled in thanks, and he returned it.

Tetsuya reminded me a bit of Katsuro, with kind blue eyes and blonde hair, even though it was the wrong kind of blonde and the wrong length. The look in his eyes told me that this person was humble, caring and warm-hearted, a person who could become a very good friend. Then I shifted my gaze to Ritsu and I couldn't keep myself from blinking in surprise. He looked very familiar to me. He reminded me of Ayako. Flaming scarlet hair and eyes that held deep secrets. Someone who needed friends. I blinked, and noticed that he was busy turning over the bullet between his fingers, looking at it closely, and I got a little confused. Not to be arrogant or anything, but shouldn't he have been paying attention to me? Tetsuya noticed, and he brought his head down a little closer to mine.

"You're a very skilled elemental." He murmured, and my eyes moved up to meet his kind eyes once again. He looked even more benevolent than Ritsu, to be honest. "When you took over healing yourself, the bullet popped right out into his hand." My eyebrows shot up in surprise. I blinked, and he smiled cutely at my surprise.

"R-really? I wasn't aiming or nothing…" I stuttered and muttered lamely. Tetsuya just smiled, so I blew out a breath and looked around as best as I could. "Where am I?" I felt Tetsuya stiffen, and my eyes shot to him, but he was busy looking at his young master, who -I found out –was returning the gaze. They looked worried. Probably had 'what ifs' swirling through their heads, so I decided to break the tension. "I'm at your place, aren't I?" Ritsu whirled his head around so that he was looking at me, and he wasn't even bothering to hide his worry, so I smiled disarmingly at him, making him blink. "No worries." I said, "I won't tell anyone. You're the first people who've given me a second thought for months." I sighed a little sadly. "Just because of the way I looked." I muttered, looking off to the side, and if I had been watching, I would've seen Ritsu's eyes widen. As it was, I felt him gently touch my arm after a moment or two, and I looked at him, blinking, meeting his curious, concerned eyes.

"Why?" he asked, after a few moments of looking lost for words. I blinked at him, and he kept looking me in the eyes, as if hoping to convey his question that way.

"Why did no one help me?" I asked, and he nodded, and I smiled sympathetically, and I tried to be as blunt as possible, to keep from sounding hurt. "Because I'm homeless. I look homeless, and most people assume that homeless people are crazy, so they stay well away from them, and don't take kindly to anyone like that who tries to talk to them. I'm just lucky because I know elemancy." Ritsu and Tetsuya frowned at my phrasing, but moved on. Ritsu smirked with his eyes a bit, and I looked at him.

"I hope you don't mind that we burned your clothes then." I blinked in surprise.

"Eh? If you burned my clothes then… what am I wearing?" I frowned in confusion, and focused solely on trying to move my hand to my stomach, and just managed to slide it across the tatami to my hip, where I gave up, and moved my thumb to stroke the fabric there. I blinked in surprise at the cleanliness of it, and Tetsuya tilted my head up, so that I could look down at myself, and my eyes widened in surprise. I was in a woman's bathing yukata. Like the ones they give you to wear at an onsen, but much less bland. It had tints of pink in among the white, and little green wisps representing spring breezes. The yukata was rucked up on the left side, to expose where the bullet wound had been, and Ritsu was busy carefully tugging it down to cover my leg back up, with a slightly blushing look on his face as he wasn't looking straight at my leg the entire time. I had to smile briefly at the sweetness of that. "Thank you. Ritsu-san and Tetsuya-san, for taking the time to take care of me. I probably would've been dead by now if it weren't for you guys." Ritsu blushed, and his hand jumped to the back of his neck as he couldn't look me in the eye, and Tetsuya just smiled appreciatively down at me, and nodded when I looked at him. "What happened after I went down, do you know?"

"You're asking an awful lot of questions…" I barely heard Ritsu mutter, and I mentally finished the sentence. _'For someone who was just healed from a bullet wound.'_ Tetsuya waited for a moment, and then sighed, as Ritsu obviously wasn't going to start explaining, and I looked up at him as he looked at me. He gave me a small smile.

"We weren't expecting anyone else to be in that alleyway we were in, and when the young lord sensed you get shot, he just managed to catch you with his earth elemancy before you hit the ground while I messed with the mechanics of the other syndicate's guns, making them useless. Ritsu told me to come with him and the boys to distract the other syndicate, and Ritsu checked you over before saying you could last a while longer, and told me to take you here, while he helped the boys deal with the other syndicate." He finished, and I blinked and smiled.

"Thank you for that, Tetsuya-san." He just smiled, and I shifted my gaze to the redhead who reminded me so much of my old friend, looking at the floor as he paid attention to our conversation. "-and thank _you_, Ritsu-san," I said, and he looked up at me with curious eyes when I stressed the 'you', "-for having such a big heart." He stared at me for a moment as if wondering if I had actually just said what I had, and I smiled at him. Watching him blush was an awful lot like watching a sunrise, since he didn't look away until he matched his hair.

"Ma!" I heard him mutter after he had turned his face in completely the opposite direction. I grinned. That was so cute. I blinked, and felt my body starting to proclaim it's desire for sleep even louder as my eyelids started drifting shut, but I forced myself awake for just a little longer. I needed to know.

"So what are you going to do with me now?" Ritsu turned and looked at me in confusion before glancing up at Tetsuya- who I didn't look at because I was focusing on the important one. Ritsu looked at me again, and I met his curious, confused eyes squarely. "Going to throw me out?" Ritsu's face lit up in outrage at the suggestion, and I smiled softly, the pull of sleep on my mind too strong to resist now.

"No!" He exclaimed loudly, and I kept the soft smile as my eyes drifted shut, fading with a whisper:

"Good."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

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><p><em>Katsuro.<em>

_Yes?_

_Is there _any_ possible way you can clean this place up without me spending a whole day on it?_ Katsuro had to hold back his laughter as I glared into the cobwebby, dusty, dirty and messy storage shed that had obviously not been used in years, broom and cleaning materials in hand. I could've sworn I could even see a pile of samurai armor in the dark, distant corner. Then an idea hit, and I carefully laid the broom and bucket of cleaning supplies on the floor by my feet.

_Hey Katsuro?_

_Yes?_

_Mind covering everything while I burn the dust off?_

_What?_

Too late. I had already taken a step back and braced myself, putting my palms out in front of me like I was practicing Tai Chi, the fire-born phoenix appearing in a flash of flame of firelight over my right eye. I was certain about nobody seeing us. Ritsu was at school, the other syndicate members at work, and Tetsuya was in the kitchen on the other side of the complex. I summoned my elemancy to my hands, and I heard Katsuro yell a muffled _'Oi!'_ before he summoned his earth tattoo to life over my left eye, just barely managing to cover everything inside -including the interior of the room- with a protective layer of earth elemancy before I closed my eyes, grinned savagely and let lose a gigantic wave of flame that swept over everything in front of me, the smell of burning dust and dirt rising into the air, even though the flames had hardly any substance to them. I was still puckered out from getting shot the day before yesterday. I wasn't technically supposed to be doing this, but I didn't really give a damn. If I was well enough to clean, I was well enough to use elemancy in my opinion. Well, until I opened my eyes, gasped and sucked in a huge breath of air that I hadn't realized I'd been holding, and practically collapsed to the floor on my rear end, the room spinning in front of me. I groaned and put my head in my hands as Katsuro appeared beside me, very concerned and a little annoyed. I'd never been this light-headed in my life. If it weren't for Katsuro monitoring me, I probably would've fainted.

_I _told_ you, you weren't ready for this kind of thing._ He chastised, and I couldn't help but smile. It was sweet how much he cared for me, even though I was a few minutes older than him. I was more reckless, and ever since… well, ever since he'd taken on the role of the elder and made sure to be there for me and to try and dissuade me from doing anything too reckless. He couldn't always do it though. Without Katsuro, I don't know where I'd be.

"Ne, Katsuro?"

"_Nn?"_ He hummed to show he was listening, as I sat cross legged, leaning my elbows on my knees and staring contemplatively at the back of the room.

"Do you think we could finally fit in here?" Katsuro paused and looked at me, a hint of consternation in his eyes. He didn't say anything. I sighed. "It's just that… I know… I know we won't… ever… get them back. On our own. I hope that someday we can free them too. Ayako, Miyako, Stephan, June and Daisuki. I know that they aren't… I can still feel them, I know you can too, but… Miyako _gave_ us our freedom. Shouldn't we… shouldn't we do something with it?"

There was a moment of silence where Katsuro didn't speak, turning over what I had said privately in his head, continuing to bring my health back up to what it had been, his tattoo still lit up gently over my left eye, lit up more boldly over his left eye as well, in his spectral form. I kept quiet, thinking as well, playing with my hands.

"_We should live for them…"_ He spoke, and I lifted my head up in surprise as he smiled at my reaction. _"-that's what you're trying to say, isn't it?"_

"Ah. I- I… Heh." I paused before I conceded with a small smile and a chuckle. "You were always better at talking than I was."

"_I see no problem with your suggestion, but you better stop talking to yourself." _I smiled, pleased, then frowned in confusion. _"Tetsuya-san is coming around the corner."_ Oh. I blinked, and then jumped up and made like I was busy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

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><p><em>August 13<em>_th__ was a warm day at the end of summer, and Riko stood silently in front of a living room window, looking in. She wore plain clothes; a thin white shirt with a low-cut, circular neck, and matching trousers of the same material. She was barefoot, and her brunette hair was wild and matted, burrs sticking to her hair and clothes, here and there, and she could not look away from the scene inside, as Katsuro appeared like a faint after-image beside her, looking inside along with her, his clothes matching hers._

_A woman, in her late 40's was sitting on her knees in front of a butsudan with her husband, candles and incense burning as they prayed before a picture of a young brunette woman with her arms slung happily around the sheepish form of her blonde younger brother. Riko stood silently outside the window as she and Katsuro watched in confusion as one tear silently followed after another from their parent's eyes._

"_Mom… Dad…" Riko spoke, her voice full of confused fear. "Why are you…? Who told you? We…"Riko silenced as their mother turned to the window they were looking through and wiped her tears, her eyes looking right past them to the flowers behind them. Riko's eyes filled with panic as she put her hands up on the glass and pressed her forehead against it in an attempt to get closer to the scene inside. "Mom!" She said loudly, her voice strangled from barely holding back a scream. "Dad!" Katsuro looked at his older sister in fearful confusion, wondering what she was doing. He didn't know how to communicate with her yet, besides lip-speaking very obviously with the help of mime. Riko's eyes widened further in an outright panic as she began to shake violently from fear, and she couldn't hold back the screams any longer. "__**MOM! DAD! WE'RE **__RIGHT__** HERE! We're not DEAD! MOM! DAD! LOOK AT ME! MOM! DA-**__"_

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><p>"-<em><strong>D!<strong>_" Riko blinked; sitting bolt upright on the futon Ritsu had given her to sleep on, clutching the duvet she had been sleeping under rigidly to her chest. All was dark, peaceful and quiet in the tatami-matted room, and she could hear Ritsu snoring from the other side of the shouji screens separating their rooms. All was quiet, and Katsuro appeared faintly on his knees beside her, blinking sleep from his eyes as he laid one hand on her knee in concern.

"_Was it that dream again, Riko-nee?" _He asked her, looking at her through worried, tired eyes. She'd had this dream at least once a month since it happened, and since it was now the first day of December, that made this the third time she had seen it in her sleep. The day their parents couldn't see her. Couldn't see either of them. Riko looked at her lap, tears leaking from her eyes in silent admission as she reluctantly relaxed, and leaned instinctively into Katsuro's spectral hold as he held her to his chest, running his fingers through her hair, making gentle soothing noises until she fell asleep again after she gently laid down with him still holding her, lying on the tatami beside her, running his fingers through her hair still. _"Riko-nee…"_ He sighed, worried blue eyes hiding a pain deep inside, the pain that both he and his older sister shared.

The sound of the shouji sliding slowly and carefully open caught Katsuro's attention, and he looked up quickly to see a familiar head of scarlet hair turned to look into the room his sister slept in, in concern. Upon reflection, Katsuro couldn't recall hearing Ritsu snore for a couple minutes now, and realized that the red-head must've been faking it. Very realistically too.

Ritsu pulled the shouji down until he had a clear view of the young, brunette woman on the other side of the screen, who was sleeping with moonlit tear-streaks on her face. He lay on his back and looked at her for awhile, with her tear-stained face and duvet piled up in her lap as though she had sat up quickly and had forgotten to pull it back up over her before falling asleep again. Silently, Ritsu reached out for the duvet covering the woman called Riko who slept on just the other side of the screen from him, grabbed the top corner closest to him, and pulled it up over her until it rested under her chin, her face relaxing with the new-found warmth. He could smell her tears.

He was learning more about Riko everyday. She had been dropped into his life in that alleyway, and instinct had him take care of her, and keep her close. It had more to do with than just how similar they were in their perspectives. Something in his get told him that he needed to keep her close, and keep her safe. He knew that she hadn't told him everything, even though he wasn't sure what 'everything' was. His gut told him that there was more to her, that he could help her in some way. He just needed to wait, be patient. Some how he knew that if he forced her hand, she'd run. Just on the most basic of instincts of fleeing from danger. So he'd have to wait, wait for her to come to him.

"Oyasumi, Riko." He whispered as he drew the shouji up and closed again, before rolling over on his futon and closing his eyes.

On the other side of the shouji, Katsuro smiled.

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><p><em>Oyasumi-<em> 'Night (short form of 'good night')


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

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><p>I had gotten too dang curious, and I stood open-mouthed under the umbrella Ritsu had forgotten at home, which Tetsuya had asked me to give to him at school, which shielded me from the midday downpour of a rare winter storm. Even the streaks of rain zipping through the air from the sky to the ground with the force of golf balls dropped from the top of a skyscraper couldn't hide the sight of the simply massive Ouran Elemental Institute which held all three schools- Elementary School, Middle School and High School- in the same building, each in separate wings. Needless to say, the institute was MASSIVE. I closed my mouth as I blinked, the shock at the sheer size of the building wearing off as I realized that I needed to find my way inside, and after that, my way to Ritsu. I swallowed and started walking towards what I thought was the high school wing. This was going to take awhile.<p>

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><p>Geez, I was a complete novice. I had actually entered the elementary wing on my first attempt, and had fled in embarrassment upon seeing all the little people surrounding me, only coming up to my hips and looking up at me curiously. Having forgotten to open the umbrella again before racing around the wing into the next section, I had dashed, sopping wet, into the nearest doorway, where a petulant, middle-school fire elemental had nearly torched me to 'dry me off' for 'elemancy practice', and I had only managed to keep from being burned myself by calling on my own fire elemancy in a nervous rush to keep him from burning me. Still, the clothes that Tetsuya and Ritsu had given me had gotten a little charred, and I still wasn't dry, though not as soaked as I had been. So, through the process of elimination, I had somehow found my way through the middle school- unwilling to go outside again- with the wrapped up umbrella hanging over my arm, to the high school- only to find myself completely and utterly daunted by the sheer… sheer…<p>

"Pretty decadent, isn't it?"

"Eek!" I squeaked at a high-pitch, and jumped- startled- only to land again, slip in my wet tennis shoes, scramble for balance, only to end up falling into a split in a ridiculous attempt not to fall on my ass. I winced, and I heard a strangled chuckling coming from behind me as I pushed myself onto my knees before clutching briefly at my inner thighs before rubbing them quickly as a student in the male high-school uniform knelt in front of me, offering me his hand.

"Storm gods, are you alright? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." I blinked and looked up at the pixie-cut brunette with big brown eyes, and instantly felt relaxed around her. I blinked. Her?

"_Definitely a 'her'."_ Katsuro put his two cents in, and since he was the earth elemental, I trusted his judgment. I smiled and shook my head, accepting her hand as she assisted me to my feet, very gentlemanly-like, and I decided to play along with her act since she was so nice to me.

"No, it's alright. Thanks for helping me out…"

"Fujioka Haruhi."

"Oh what a _lovely_ name." I complimented, making small talk, genuinely liking that sound of her name. She smiled charmingly at me, and it made me blink for a second.

"Arigatou…"

"I'm Matsumi Riko." I smiled a small, private smile as I watched her roll the name over her tongue, feeling a momentary rush of pride at sound of my name as she played with it.

"That is also a beautiful name, Matsumi-san." She said as the bells tolled, signaling the end of school, and I jumped once again, looking around wide-eyed, panicking slightly at the revelation that it was the end of school, and I needed to hurry and catch my friend Kassanoda Ritsu before he left. Haruhi watched me as I did so in concern, her elemental tattoo- water- flickering briefly over her left eye. I turned to face her again, and before I could even open my mouth, she asked: "Meeting someone?" I blinked in surprise.

"Well… not exactly meeting." Haruhi raised an eyebrow rather elegantly. "He doesn't know I'm here, and I've got to catch him before he leaves to get his umbrella to him, so he doesn't get soaked on the way home." I said, resting my hand subconsciously on the aforementioned object which remained hooked over my forearm.

"Maybe I could help you find him." She offered, shifting her weight onto one foot and looking me in the eyes. "What's his name?"

"Kassanoda Ritsu." I could've sworn I saw her tattoo flicker in surprise as the same emotion sparked in her eyes, but she kept herself composed, and turned herself a little to face a certain way.

"I know Kassanoda-kun." I blinked in faint surprise at the suffix, but moved to follow her as she beckoned me down a hallway and started to move. "He'd be heading towards the Garden club at the moment. If we hurry, we should be able to catch him before he heads out to the greenhouses." I just nodded and followed her silently, my footsteps quickly following hers, which tapped along the hallway.

We walked like that for a few minutes, and I could tell she was getting curious, since I couldn't help glancing at the face of the young woman who called Ritsu with suffix of '-kun', even if it was only attached to his family name. I could guess what she wanted to ask, so I decided to break the silence, since I was curious as well.

"How did you meet Ritsu, Fujioka-san?" Her stride stuttered in surprise, and the emotion was definitely reflected on her face, I could tell even though she wasn't looking at me. I blinked, and realized that I had used Ritsu's given name, and without a suffix. I mentally face-palmed. 'Great.' I thought sarcastically. 'Now she thinks we're a couple.' Mentally, I felt Katsuro give me a smug-looking smile. 'What're you looking at?' He turned the grin elsewhere, and I rolled my eyes. I was distracted by the sight of Haruhi's fond smile, and I blinked.

"It's a long story." She said, looking at me contentedly slightly from the side. "How about you?" She asked, and pointed with her eyes to where we could now see Ritsu's tall frame and head of flaming scarlet hair standing framed in a doorway. "There he is." Now it was my turn to smile fondly.

"He saved my life." Haruhi froze in shock, and I took a few steps forward before realizing, and turning to look into her wide, brown eyes curiously. She blinked and gaped like a fish a few times before managing to gather her thoughts.

"He WHAT?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

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><p>Now, before you start thinking that she screamed that, let me correct you. She didn't. She gave one of those whisper shouts, you know, the kind you make when you want to scream your head off, but don't want to be loud? That kind. Except she made it look a lot better than I made it sound. Ritsu had heard her, and had turned around to see us standing there and had looked a little awkward, but had shot me a smile when I gave him his umbrella. Apparently he hadn't been able to go out to the greenhouses in the rain, and had stayed behind to clean up his classroom, which was where we found him. He had just been about to go off to a place he had called 'The Forests' –note the capitalization- but Haruhi had grasped both of our wrists and started pulling us off towards a place she called a 'Host Club', saying that someone called 'Tamaki' would insist upon hearing 'this story' and would give her 'an earful' if she 'forgot to bring them along'.<p>

That was a lot of quotes, but I swear, she actually said each and every one of them. I had looked over my shoulder at Ritsu, looking for some guidance, but he had just been smiling at the back of Haruhi's head in fond amusement. I took that to mean that he knew Haruhi was a girl too. For some reason, no smile came at the thought.

So that was how we ended up here, in the host club, Ritsu and I sitting side-by-side on a red velvet couch in the high school's 3rd Elemancy room, with the 'Host Club' –a bunch of amazingly handsome men on the edge of the end of their teen years, including a pair of redheaded twins who caught my eye, and Haruhi- sitting on a identical red velvet couch opposite us, with an overly-enthusiastic blonde Light practically leaning across the table between us, and spraying light everywhere like a sprinkler. I took it that this person was 'Tamaki', and I glanced at Ritsu out of the corner of my eye with a small amused smile, to see him doing the same. Our smiles grew bigger almost simultaneously.

"So darling Haruhi-chan told me that this woman sitting beside you, Bossanova," I snorted at the nickname, covering my mouth with my hand to hide the grin. "- had her life saved by you. How incredibly valiant! A hero amongst the commoners! Tell me more!" He said excitedly, radiating light like a sun as he turned to me and slipped his fingers under my chin before I leaned away from him, my eyes lit up in amusement. "How did this valiant knight Bossanova in shining armor manage to save your life?" A few seconds passed while I waited for him to say something else amusing, and then I blinked when I realized that he had asked me a question.

"Oh!" I exclaimed loudly, and the blonde before me straightened up quizzically. "You actually asked me something!" He looked smug for a moment. "You were being so amusing with your fancy, unnecessary words and spontaneous light show that I was waiting for you to do something else!" I laughed. "You're so strange, you're hilarious!" He fell over and everyone else bit back grins while the redheaded twins laughed and said 'good one'. I grinned and let him sit on the couch again before I let the smile slip away in reflection. "Well…" I glanced at Ritsu, and he nodded for me to go on. "-around a week or so ago, I was homeless." The aristocratic teens -except for the one in glasses - looked at me like they had never heard the word 'homeless' before. They probably hadn't. "I had been kicked out of a café because I had been asking for something to eat, since I hadn't eaten for a few days and they didn't like the way I looked, so they threw me out. When I didn't go away, they sent some bouncers after me, and I had to run. After I lost them, I stopped in an alleyway. There, I heard guns, and out morbid curiosity, stepped out into the middle of the alley to see what was going on." I glanced at Ritsu, and saw that his face was tense. "I was shot just under my left hip bone and lost consciousness. I woke up in our friend Tetsuya's arms at Ritsu's place, and passed out again. When I came to, the pain wasn't as bad, and Ritsu healed my leg. Thanks to him, my life was saved and changed for the better. Without him, I wouldn't be here." I leaned back on the couch back, and smiled gratefully at Ritsu as I did so, whose face softened as he felt my gaze. I could feel Katsuro listening somberly to my story in the back of my mind, and I looked up at the Host Club and blinked.

'Tamaki' was bawling dramatically and spouting words and phrases like 'heroic' and 'how brave', the twins were wiping tears from their eyes and leaning on each other while Haruhi was rolling her eyes at the three of them. I couldn't get a reading on the dark bespectacled one with the black book, and my eyes fell on the tall brunette with the cute blonde on his shoulders. I blinked. Wait… My eyes fell back to the familiar brown eyes of the brunette, and recognized the face shape. My eyes widened in surprise, and I leaned forward instinctively, my heart beating a little faster as I tried to keep myself from getting too hopeful. The man kept his eyes on me as I stared at him, and I swallowed, suddenly aware that everyone's eyes were on me.

"Um… y-you." He blinked. "What's your name?"

"Morinozuka Takashi." I tried to keep my eyes from widening, and took a steady breath in, trying to relax.

"Do you happen to know a girl called… Miyako?" He twitched. "Morinozuka Miyako?" I clarified, and his eyes widened. He nodded, and the small blonde climbed off of his shoulders.

"She's my cousin." Everyone's attention was now riveted on him. "My father's brother split from the family and created his own style of fighting. He trained his daughter, Miyako in that style, and I haven't seen her since I was eight, when she was six. Are you alright?" Upon his question, everyone looked back at me, and Ritsu's eyes widened for a second, and he instantly put his hand on my shoulder, where I felt his elemancy start to spread over me to calm me down. I was shaking like a nervous Chihuahua, my eyes riveted on Takashi's, and I was grateful for the effect Ritsu's elemancy was having on me, as the muscles in my jaw unclenched and I started to breathe again. I breathed in and out slowly before asking another question.

"Your cousin Miyako, she had dark hair and brown eyes like yours, and she wasn't an elemental, was she?" He blinked curiously and nodded. I let out a heavy, shuddering sigh of relief and rested my forehead in my palm, my elbow resting on my knee as I felt tears prick at my eyes. "Omg…" I whispered, Katsuro was in a state of wide-eyed shock, and Ritsu automatically scooted along the couch closer to me as he realized that his elemancy wasn't working as well as it should, and got closer so that he could put both of his hands on me. I sighed once more and looked up, blinking the tears away and looking at everyone seriously, happy that everyone else was giving me the same look, the one in glasses even having put his book away. "There's something I haven't told you. Something not even Ritsu knows. I never thought I'd find help so soon, but I guess someone loves me."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything I didn't create.

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><p>"I'm not actually an elemental. At least I wasn't to start with." Ritsu's grip tightened on me reflexively in surprise, but kept monitoring me, everyone else listening to what I had to say seriously. "Before February, I was a normal person. That is, one with no elemental talents except for an elemental leaning and psychic powers which somehow combined to create a faint ability to manipulate fire."<p>

"But you're Earth." Ritsu interrupted. I shook my head sadly.

"That isn't me."

"I've _seen_ the tattoo light up on your face!" He let go of me in shock, and I couldn't look at him. "You even popped the bullet right out into my hand when you healed yourself! How could that-"

"Was the tattoo ever as strong as it should've been?" Ritsu fell silent, and the atmosphere was tense as everyone else watched our argument, waiting for new information to be unveiled. Ritsu blinked and thought for a second as I finally managed to look at him, my eyes sad and tired. He shook his head a little.

"But that's-"

"Was I looking when I 'healed myself'?"

"Your eyes were closed-"

"Let it rest, Ritsu. I'll get to that, ok? Please?" I pleaded with him, and he looked torn between arguing with me and letting me have my way. He looked me in the eyes and sighed, nodding and slumping back against the couch. I returned my gaze to the floor between my feet as the room around me faded away and I mentally traveled back to the fateful day about a year ago when everything happened.

"My friends, my younger brother and I were all kidnapped on the last day of February. Ayako, Miyako, June, Daisuki, Stephan, Katsuro and I." I said, closing my eyes to hide the inner pain I kept locked up as all of their faces flashed by in front of me. I opened my eyes and stared dully at my knuckles as I continued.

"There were seven of us, and we had all somehow managed to have the same talent over different elements. For Ayako, it was electricity, Miyako darkness, June light; Daisuki wind, Stephan water, Katsuro earth and I fire. The reasons why we were kidnapped were probably because of these talents, no matter how faint they were." I paused, a dull sense of guilt filling my chest. "We had always wanted to be elementals, and we had wanted to make a circle. We figured there was no other way to be closer." I paused briefly, letting the emotions wash over me and doing away with them so that I could speak clearly.

"We had met up in the park to figure out how to do that, when suddenly I heard Katsuro give a muffled yell and had turned to see what was up only to see a bag over his head as he fought with the hands that held it there. The next thing I knew was darkness." I leaned back and heaved a sigh as I flung my arms over the back of the couch and looked up at the ceiling, as guilt, fear, and sadness filtered through my eyes, just to name a few. I could still see that day clearly in my mind's eye. I closed my eyes and sighed, the next image already making me wanting to cry- yet I boxed that weak emotion up and put it in a distant corner of my mind where I couldn't feel it.

"I woke up in a laboratory, Katsuro clinging to me like I was the last thing on earth, and all of my friends were either still out cold on the floor or in a similar state as Katsuro, trying to wake the others." I closed my eyes and swallowed, taking another breath before opening my eyes and carrying on.

"Time blurred and they separated us into groups, and I outright refused to have Katsuro taken from me, so they let him stay with me." I smiled sardonically as I remembered flinging my fists at any of the 'bad guys' who got too close to my little brother.

"Next thing I knew, we were tied to tables and being poked and prodded, stuck full of needles and having strange things done to us." My eyes dulled as I lost myself in the grim memory. "I never, _ever_ wanted to hear Katsuro scream like that, cry like that, ever again. So I bit back my tears and took it." I said numbly. "I wanted to be strong for him." The redheaded twins sitting on the couch opposite me slipped their arms around each other as they listened, entranced.

"What must've been several months later, something in me exploded, and when I opened my eyes the room was torched, the straps binding me to the table burnt away." My face relaxed as I remembered what should've been impossible. "I sat up and found a mirror. I recalled what I had felt, and saw the phoenix rise over my right eye. Then I found my brother." I didn't even bother to hide the awe on my face as I remembered.

"He… had been protected from my explosion by a shield of some sort of clear material, and I could see him struggling against the straps that bound him to the table he was on, and his half of the room had _bloomed_." I paused, glazed eyes staring at the ceiling, the memory picture-perfect like a renaissance painting. "Some scientist had left seeds of some sort on a table in there, and by the time I saw him, it was a wild garden in there, full of vivid colors, like a house being reclaimed by nature. Grass, flowers, vines, climbing flowers, ivy and even a tree or two had taken root and split and cracked the floor and wall tiles." I paused, letting that information sink in as I distantly heard the scratching of a pen in a notebook.

"Katsuro was wrestling against the constraints, and he had an Earth Tattoo flashing so wildly over his left eye that it turned his face a neon green from the light." I paused, remembering, and felt Katsuro give me the elemental equivalent of a fond shoulder squeeze. "I was able to see ivy climbing up the sides of the table he was on like monkeys, the roots puncture the sides of the straps and stop growing when the constraints suddenly snapped and he was free."

"We stood facing each other on either side of the shield for who knows how long when suddenly it was lifted up and out, and he was the first thing I grabbed hold of." I smiled faintly. "We had the tattoos. It was un_believable_. Once I had him, I didn't want to let go of my little brother **ever** again." I closed my eyes as remembered the emotions I felt that day. "We were let out of the room we had been contained in without seeing any of the scientists even once. Outside, we found our friends, and we were so happy to see them again, especially since they had appeared to have been subjected to the same treatment Katsuro and I had." I sighed. "Miyako had the Dark Elemental tattoo, and she was very pleased with it, but Ayako by her side was worried, even though she had the Lightening tattoo herself. June and Daisuki were rejoicing in the air, Daisuki glowing the pale blue of the Air Element, and June was dropping light like a sparkler, and at times, flashing out of sight. Stephan was standing by the sink, standing stock still and staring at the tornado of water he had created in concentration, already working on developing what he had."

"But it seems like that was only the beginning." I gritted out dangerously between my teeth. "They used some kind of a gas to knock us out, and I'm guessing that that had been around early May." I swallowed and paused, sighing. "Miyako was the first one to wake up." I admitted. "I woke up in her arms, she was running with me, and the first thing I asked was 'Where's my brother?'" I reached up and laced my fingers together behind my head, staring a hole in the ceiling. Katsuro gave me a sad look. "'He's with you.' She said. 'He'll always be with you.'" I kept silent for a long time, eyes distant with memory, until Katsuro gave me a mental nudge.

"She was crying. Looking back on it, she knew something I didn't at the time, and more than likely couldn't find it in herself to tell me." I could still remember her tearstained face, lit by streetlamps, her black hair wind-swept out of her pale, somewhat anemic face. "I wanted to ask her many more things, but I didn't have the time to before she put me down in an alleyway, and wrapped a blanket around me, before muttering something about having to 'save the others', before running off." I sighed, closing my eyes and unlacing my fingers before pressing my hands soothingly over my face. "I spent the night in that alley," I sighed, leaning forward and placing my elbows on my knees. "-she never came back."

"So I did the only thing I felt I had left to do. I went home. It was August 13th by then, and my parents couldn't even see me standing outside their living room window, kneeling before a butsudan with our picture on it." I moved my forehead to the heel of my hand and blinked to clear my eyes as I spoke evenly. "We were dead to them, and had been dead to them for a long time, because they weren't even crying that hard." I blinked and reached up to wipe a silent tear away from my eye, and wiped my hand on my shirt, leaving a slight wet spot behind.

"It was because of Miyako that we're no longer in that compound, and it was the 13th of August the next day when we realized what the goal of those scientists had been, and made myself scarce. It was the 25th of August when I was shot and Ritsu saved my life. And today…" I swallowed and looked down, beating back tears before looking into Morinozuka Takashi's brown eyes. "Today we found someone who can help us."

"Us?" The bespectacled one prompted, and I blinked, turning my gaze to him, his eyes hidden behind the reflection of light on his glasses. I realized what he was getting at.

"Have you ever heard of Bio-Spheres?" Everyone in the room nodded. "They are elementally charged spheres with two or more elements in it made for specific purposes. The people who created them stepped over the line when they tinkered with my brother and I, and our friends, and made us what we are. They took my brother's newly-found Earth- a newly awakened facet of his soul- and put it in me. They took the bio-sphere a step further and created us, a Bio-Elemental."

"Prove it." The bespectacled man. I nodded emotionlessly. _Katsuro?_ I felt him nod in the back of my mind, and together, a blinding reddish-orange and an every-color-of-green light lit up the front of my face and calmed. Over my left eye rested my brother's Earth tattoo, and over my right, rested my own Phoenix of Fire.


End file.
